Lamphere family honored as ambassadors at Muskegon March for Babies event

MUSKEGON, MI – Most mothers will say the happiest day of their lives came the day their children were born.

But not for North Muskegon resident Ashley Lamphere.

Lamphere and with her husband Matt met one of life's darkest days on Nov. 5, 2012 when she was rushed to the hospital for an emergency Cesarean section due to complications from preeclampsia, a hypertensive pregnancy disorder. As a result, Lamphere's daughter, Brynnley, was born at only 26 weeks gestation – nearly 14 weeks early – at 1 pound, 9 ounces and 13 inches in length.

Now more than a year after bringing their daughter home from the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, where Brynnley endured multiple surgeries and medical setbacks, the Lamphere family is complete in large part to their enduring strength – along with critical research completed by March of Dimes.

"We had to share her for 171 days, she wasn't our daughter – we had to ask to care for her," Lamphere said. "And the day that she came home which is just past a year ago now, that's the day we became a family and that's the day everything became OK.

"Nothing else mattered in the world."

The Lamphere family was honored as an ambassador family by March for Babies presented by March of Dimes on Saturday, May 3 at Muskegon County's Heritage Landing. More than 150 people participated in the March for Babies event, which raises money to help prevent premature births and improve the health of babies.

Melissa Petersen, a family teams specialist at March of Dimes, said March for Babies draws crowds comprised largely of families who have been affected by premature births and the trauma surrounding it.

Petersen, too, has been affected as her son, Levi, was born just shy of 25 weeks and is the lone survivor of a set of triplets. One was lost at 22½ weeks while the other died 10 days after birth, she said.

For Petersen, the event is incredibly personal – making it critical to garner support and finances to better the cause.

"People come out today because they all have a personal story or they know someone that's been affected by premature birth or birth defects or newborn death," she said. "We all just want it to stop and this is the only way we'll be able to do it by coming together and raising funds to stop premature birth."

For now, the dark days are over the Lamphere family.

Brynnley was removed from oxygen in January and started to crawl in April, continuing a process of growing and thriving in a life outside the hospital.

And what's left now for Ashley Lamphere, along with the hope to have more children in the near future, is the memory of the actual happiest day of her life, April 24, 2013 -- the day Brynnley finally came home.

"She's a really, really strong baby," Lamphere said. "She's strong willed and determined to get through her rough days too. She had a lot to fight for. There was a couple times where we did fear we were going to lose her. But she's a fighter."